Nikolai V. Kaledin’s research while affiliated with St Petersburg University and other places

The article discusses a theoretical framework for investigating regionalisation and geopolitical regionalisation, employing the activity-geospatial approach. The main theoretical foci of this study are system-forming, or region-building, socio-geo-adaptation and geopolitical relations. The article examines various types of transboundary and transnational geopolitical regionalisation as manifestos of geopolitical relations. These types are categorised based on scale, functional area, historical and geographical characteristics, quality, legal status and geospatial features, placing particular emphasis on the Baltic region. An essential aspect of studying a region involves identifying and defining its spatial boundaries. Since determining the exact limits of the Baltic region remains problematic, this article examines various approaches to address this issue, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses, particularly in the context of geopolitical analysis. The concluding part of the article explores several centuries of the evolution of the Baltic Sea region, divided into historical geopolitical stages. It is highlighted that the geopolitical essence of the Baltic region was changing radically over time. Particular attention is paid to the current state of the Baltic regional geopolitical entity, which is classified as a conflict-ridden or confrontational geopolitical region in the ‘Eurasian arc of instability’ interpreted as a geopolitical macroregion.

The article considers such little-studied issues as the emergence and formation of political geography as a scientific and educational direction in Russia. The features of the genesis and development of political geography in Russia are shown in the framework of two scientific and educational paradigms — the state-describing (the end of the 1730s — the end of the 19th century) and the anthropogeographic (the end of the 19th century — the first third of the 20th century). The main ideas and scientists in each stage are outlined. A comparative analysis of the genesis of the term “political geography” in Russia and European countries is carried out.

From the standpoint of modern ideas about regionalization, cross-border regions and the activity geospatial interpretation of political geography and geopolitics as directions exploring geopolitical relations, the article considers the content of the geopolitical aspect of cross-border regionalization and emerging regions. It is revealed as a system of cross-border geopolitical relations and regions of various types, due to the diverse properties of interacting entities and the surrounding geospace. The typological differences of geopolitical features of transboundary regions are highlighted. Five types of political foundations and features for classifying geopolitical transboundary regions were identified: according to the status of political borders (international or domestic); by type of cross-border activity; on the legal status (the correlation of regionalization de jure and de facto is discussed); according to historical and geographical features; by complementarity (regions of cooperation or conflict). Four grounds for classifying regions according to their geospatial features are also highlighted: spatial scale (both in topological and metric terms); the specifics of the material environment - territorial, aquatic and others; spatial dynamics of processes; geospatial structure. A total of about forty specific types of cross-border regionalization are described.

In this article, we address the little-researched and complicated problems of the genesis, periodisation, and development of political geography and geopolitics as academic and re­search disciplines across the Baltic region in general and the contribution of Saint Peters­burg University in particular. The terms ‘political geography,’ ‘geopolitics’ and the corre­sponding academic disciplines, as well as the first concepts of political geography and geo­politics, emerged in the Baltic. The Russian and German schools of thought made a valuable contribution to these fields of research. Using the historical, structural-genetic, and activity-geospace approaches, we identify and analyse the major historical, research, and academic paradigms in the development of political geography. In doing so, we consider the case of Saint Petersburg University. These paradigms (state-descriptive, anthropogeographical, state-geopolitical, and activity-societal) differ in their methodological frameworks and the­matic priorities. We demonstrate that the term ‘political geography’ and the science it de­notes are of Russian origin, having been developed by German scientists during their aca­demic service for Russia. Further, we analyse the contribution of German and Russian re­searches to the development of the Saint Petersburg school of political geographic and geo­political thought and describe its current state.